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EXPERIENCES

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 4, 1900

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 77, No. 36.

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EXPERIENCES

“I DELIGHT to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart. I have preached righteousness in the great congregation; lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart: I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation.” This scripture implies that we are to make known the Lord’s doings among his people. This does not mean that when the Lord gives us a marked experience, we are to keep it to ourselves. We all shrink from publicity. It is not a pleasant thing for us; but when it is for the glory of God, when he has told us to make known his acts among the people, to tell all his wondrous works, we should feel free to do it.
When I consider what the Woman’s Work means, I find I have never before realized the work of the Lord to be so sacred, to mean so much to me. When the Lord invites us to be co-laborers with him, it is not because we are perfect. He connects us with his work, even though we are unworthy. Peter and John were not connected with the Lord’s work because they were worthy, but that they might learn more of the things of God. They learned by communing with him and following his instruction. Judas was a hearer, but not a doer, of the word. The others were hearers and doers. There was a difference between these disciples of Jesus, and there is a difference between the people of God to-day. As I look back over my experience, I can see where I have been a hearer and not a doer. I wish to tell you of a personal experience.
A short time ago I was failing in health. I was suffering intensely with nervousness, and was so run down physically that I was on the verge of prostration. At this time my mother was taken sick, and the indications were that she would have a long siege of illness. My daughter was away from home, and I was left alone with the housework. In the morning when I got up, I did not realize how sick I was. Shortly after breakfast I hastened away to my mother upstairs, and found her much worse. I came down, and told my husband that he must call a physician at once. Then I became conscious that I was very sick myself, thoroughly sick through and through; but I kept about the duties of the house, feeling worse and worse. I felt impressed that I was going to have a long run of fever, and realized what it would mean at such a time.
I went to the privacy of my own apartment, knelt, and told the Lord all about it—there was mother ill, and my little family to care for, and I could not be sick. I asked the Lord to make me well for just that day. I was heartbroken and discouraged, but I knew that the Lord would help me. As I knelt, the following text of Scripture came to my mind: “To them that have no might he increaseth strength.” I did not know that text before, but the Holy Spirit brought it forcibly to me. I arose and went to work. Satan tried to make me give up, but I determined that I would not. I repeated aloud several times, “To them that have no might he increaseth strength.” Satan suggested, “Just see how you look!” But I stood up boldly against him, and conquered in the name of Christ. I went about my work all that day, waiting on my mother and giving her treatment. No one but the Lord and I knew how I felt. But about dusk every pain was removed, and that night I slept as sweetly as a babe. The next day I was as well as ever. The thought then came to me like this: Do you believe in the power of the Lord to-day? If it is good for you one day, why is it not good for you every day? And now that thought comes to me every morning, and the Lord gives me a text every day.
The words of the Lord are more to me than my necessary food. We must have the divine word to help us day by day, and then our lives will be filled with power. We should ask the Lord for a text to begin the day with, and to bring to the family at the breakfast table. I know that that is a blessing in our home. When we get to the place where we can make such use of some text every day, we shall have such a strong hold upon God that all the hosts of hell can not prevail against us.
We often think, I will, at a certain time to-day, take time for prayer; but so many things come up, the hours slip away, and the day goes by, the night falls, and we have not communed with God. Each day we should be shut in alone with Jesus; then we shall have no time for unkind thoughts, no time for worry, and the oil of the grace of Christ will smooth every rough place. We need the word of God woven into our everyday lives. We are to let our families know that we are Christians, and then our neighbors will know it, our friends will know it, and all with whom we come in contact will know it. The devil himself will know it. When our hearts condemn us, he gets the victory over us. From recent experience I know that when I am filled with the Spirit of the Lord, the devil can not accomplish his purpose with me. The Lord does not wish our experience of victory to be simply for one day, but for every day. The Lord wishes his people, his women, to have an intimate, constant acquaintance with him.